Marrakech - FP2: Menu leads Chevrolet 1-2-3

Chevrolet men posted the fastest times in the second free practice session, with Alain Menu beating team-mates Yvan Muller and Rob Huff by one and two tenths respectively.

Huff set the pace in the early stages, with laps of 1:46.725 and 1:45.656, but he was soon ousted by Menu who completed a lap of 1:45.410.

It was a troublesome session for many of the drivers who committed mistakes in different parts of the track. Most of them had no serious consequences, like it was the case for Stefano D’Aste and Charles Ng who spun and rejoined, or for Norbert Michelisz and Menu who took the escape roads.

Aleksey Dudukalo and Mehdi Bennani were less lucky. The Russian hit the a wall and limped back to the pits with a broken suspension, while Morocco’s motorsport hero spun and caused a red flag.

When the session resumed, SEAT drivers jumped on top. Pepe Oriola set a provisional fastest lap of 1:45.400 and soon afterwards Gabriele Tarquini was even faster at 1:45.222.

However the Chevrolet team had more strings in their bow. Muller completed a lap of 1:45.126, but this was not enough, as Menu improved further to 1:44.927. Just before the end of the session, Huff was timed at 1:45.198 and moved up to third.

With Tarquini and Oriola in fourth and fifth respectively, Tom Chilton was once again among the best setting the sixth fastest lap of 1:45.532, ahead of D’Aste, Franz Engstler and his Ford team-mate James Nash.